Heidi Gardner

Gardner was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri.[2] She grew up with an older brother, Justin.[3]

Growing up, Gardner worked part-time at the Tivoli Theater, where she did everything "from selling tickets to making popcorn". She later credited the theater as "setting the tone in her life".[4] Gardner was not interested in acting as a child, only performing on stage as a flautist for the school band and doing comedy sketches in school talent shows.[5] Gardner graduated from the all-girls Catholic high school Notre Dame de Sion in 2001. In her senior year, she was voted by her classmates as "Most likely to be a cast member of Saturday Night Live".[3] Upon graduation, Gardner followed in the footsteps of a friend and enrolled at the University of Kansas for two years, before transferring to the University of Missouri for a semester. Although she became uninterested in school and often skipped classes, Gardner discovered a fondness for haircutting.[5]

At the age of 21, Gardner dropped out of college and left Missouri to move to Los Angeles, where she worked at a hair salon for nine years.[6] Prior to the move, she saved up $600 over one summer.[7] She was encouraged by a friend to attend a performance at The Groundlings theatre, where she became inspired to become an actress.[6] Due to a lack of acting experience, Gardner enrolled in community workshops to learn the basics of improvising. Once she was comfortable, Gardner auditioned into the Groundlings basic class and was accepted.[5]

In 2014, Gardner joined the Sunday Company, and a year later, after a promotion to the Main Company, she quit her job as a hairstylist to focus on acting.[5] During that time, she became a voice actress,[8] regularly appearing on animated series such as Bratz, SuperMansion, and Mike Tyson Mysteries.[9] In 2017, Gardner joined the cast of Saturday Night Live (SNL) along with Luke Null and Chris Redd for its forty-third season.[7]

Following her first year on SNL, Gardner was hired to play the supporting role of Leonor in the Ben Falcone-directed film Life of the Party, alongside Melissa McCarthy.[5] On August 28, 2019, TVLine reported that Gardner would have a guest role on the NBC comedy series Superstore playing Dina Fox's nemesis Colleen who is transferred to Store 1217 after Cloud 9's Bel-Ridge location gets shut down.[10] In 2019, Gardner made her stage debut in Michael Frayn's Noises Off at The Cape Playhouse in Dennis, Massachusetts.[11]

While playing NewsNation host Bobbi Moore in a April 13, 2024 SNL skit, Gardner, who often maintains composure during comedy scenes, drew considerable attention for breaking character in what Vulture magazine characterized as "in spectacularly charming fashion".[12][13][14][15][16][17][18]

Recurring characters on Saturday Night Live[19]

• Angel (Every Boxer's Girlfriend from Every Movie About Boxing Ever), a distressed woman who tries to give "Weekend Update's Good News Report," but inevitably derails into melodramatic rants about her boyfriend's dangerous boxing career.
• Bailey Gismert, a teen film critic who gives awkward reviews.
• Brie Bacardi, one half of a shallow couple always on the brink of an argument, who runs a relationship-themed Instagram account with her boyfriend Nico Slobkin (Mikey Day).
• Baskin Johns, a woman who works for Goop and gets worried Gwyneth Paltrow will fire her.
• Mandy, a cousin of a celebrity that shames their movie careers
• Sandy, a joyful cook of a baking reality competition show that is qualified and skilled though she often gets passed over as a winner for more poorly-constructed and eccentric cakes
• Tamra, an intern who pitches Instagram captions for Mattel's Barbie account
• Deidre, one half of a couple who describe their vacation to their friends, naïvely misinterpreting poor experiences as prestigious culture
• Crystal (Your Co-Worker Who is Extremely Busy Doing Seemingly Nothing), who comes to Weekend Update to complain about her job, though it's unclear what she actually does

Gardner is a fan of both the Kansas City Chiefs and the Kansas City Royals.[4] She was formerly married to Marvel Comics writer Zeb Wells, whom she met while she was a member of the Groundlings.[20] They were married from 2010 to 2023.[21]

Film

Television

Web

Audio

Web

• Heidi Gardner on Instagram
• Heidi Gardner at IMDb